April 25, 2023

The Gold Furnishings of the Tabernacle

Exodus 37

Will Gullette
Tuesday's Devo

April 25, 2023

Tuesday's Devo

April 25, 2023

Big Idea

God reveals the way and His will through His Word.

Key Verse | Exodus 37:1-2

Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it.

Exodus 37

Making the Ark

Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Two cubits 1 37:1 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it. And he cast for it four rings of gold for its four feet, two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side. And he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold and put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark. And he made a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. And he made two cherubim of gold. He made them of hammered work on the two ends of the mercy seat, one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat he made the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat were the faces of the cherubim.

Making the Table

10 He also made the table of acacia wood. Two cubits was its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made a molding of gold around it. 12 And he made a rim around it a handbreadth 2 37:12 A handbreadth was about 3 inches or 7.5 centimeters wide, and made a molding of gold around the rim. 13 He cast for it four rings of gold and fastened the rings to the four corners at its four legs. 14 Close to the frame were the rings, as holders for the poles to carry the table. 15 He made the poles of acacia wood to carry the table, and overlaid them with gold. 16 And he made the vessels of pure gold that were to be on the table, its plates and dishes for incense, and its bowls and flagons with which to pour drink offerings.

Making the Lampstand

17 He also made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work. Its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers were of one piece with it. 18 And there were six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; 19 three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. 20 And on the lampstand itself were four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, 21 and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out of it. 22 Their calyxes and their branches were of one piece with it. The whole of it was a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. 23 And he made its seven lamps and its tongs and its trays of pure gold. 24 He made it and all its utensils out of a talent 3 37:24 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms of pure gold.

Making the Altar of Incense

25 He made the altar of incense of acacia wood. Its length was a cubit, and its breadth was a cubit. It was square, and two cubits was its height. Its horns were of one piece with it. 26 He overlaid it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And he made a molding of gold around it, 27 and made two rings of gold on it under its molding, on two opposite sides of it, as holders for the poles with which to carry it. 28 And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

29 He made the holy anointing oil also, and the pure fragrant incense, blended as by the perfumer.

Footnotes

[1] 37:1 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
[2] 37:12 A handbreadth was about 3 inches or 7.5 centimeters
[3] 37:24 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms

S2:077 Exodus 37

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Dive Deeper | Exodus 37

One of my favorite Bible study methods is meditating on a passage to see what it tells us about God's character. This method can be particularly fruitful when used in chapters like Exodus 37, which some might consider a "flyover" chapter (think about genealogies, censuses, weights, and measures). 

All Scripture is "profitable for teaching . . . and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16); let's see what we can learn about God from Exodus 37.

God values obedience.

God included in His Word how Bezalel constructed the ark (and the other gold furnishings) according to the instructions given to Moses in Exodus 25 and 30. The passage could have simply said, "Bezalel constructed the ark as instructed," but the extra detail here shows that God valued the obedience of following instructions precisely.

We are not saved by our obedience, but by God's grace through faith. In response to salvation, we glorify God through acts of obedience (Ephesians 2:8-10).

God cares about our details.

God gave Moses seemingly painstaking details to build the ark and the other furnishings: how to construct them, what materials to use, and their dimensions. Jesus declared in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6) that God knows what you need before you ask Him and that if God cares for the lilies of the field, even more so does He know us and our needs.

Our God isn't removed from the nitty gritty, but cares about our lives and is sovereign over our details.

God is present with His people, whom He loves.

The ark and its mercy seat were to be a physical reminder of the presence of God in the Israelites' camp. The ark was only a foreshadowing of God's complete plan to dwell with His people (Jesus in the form of a man, the Holy Spirit indwelling believers in Christ, and eternity with God in a new heaven and a new earth). 

The God of the universe didn't have to employ an earthly box (the Ark of the Covenant) during the time of Exodus and later or the form of a man during Jesus' time on earth, but He did so because He loves His people.

This month's memory verse

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

– Philippians 4:4-5

Discussion Questions

1. Is there any area in your life where you aren't trusting God with the details? In what areas of your life are you prone to worry and anxiety?

2. Are you living in full obedience to God's Word in all aspects of your life? If not, in what aspect are you not fully obedient? What is the next step of obedience that God is calling you to in that area?

3. Do you live your day like God is dwelling in you and with you? How does that truth affect your actions and your thoughts?

4. What other attributes of God's character stand out to you from this passage or from the book of Exodus?

As we gear up to release even more features for Join The Journey in 2025, our staff team, unfortunately, no longer has the margin to continue to support the comment functionality. We have big things in store for Join The Journey 2025. Stay tuned!

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Hugh Stephenson

Good morning Will. Love this devo and your focus on our obedience as a response to His revelation of Himself via these details. Also love your pointing us directly to His desire to dwell among us. Q1. Yes. God’s material provision. I trust as I have seen Him provide. But still struggle with doubts and fear, (Mark 9:23-25) Am I fully surrendered in this regard? Sadly and candidly, it depends on the day and my mood. Q2. This is a HAHA question. Full obedience? HAHA. All areas? HAHA. Am I at the maximum obedience I can be? Maybe… Part of my struggle is that modern life allows me to wander into the illusion of self-sufficiency. There are times that I wish I was living in a cabin in the middle of the woods. All I have is shelter, water, and some food I can forage up. Then I have no choice. I must be fully surrendered and fully dependent. Material life? Worse. Spiritual life? No contest. Q3. The big powerful piece that this reading through Exodus has brought to me in neon lights is that God desires to dwell with me. Many times I don’t want to dwell with myself…so why would He?
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Hugh Stephenson

Some links to the physical elements in the Ark. Definitely worth clicking. Acacia wood https://www.gotquestions.org/acacia-wood.html Ark of the Covenant - https://www.gotquestions.org/ark-of-the-testimony.html https://www.gotquestions.org/ark-of-the-covenant.html https://www.gotquestions.org/ark-covenant.html https://www.gotquestions.org/inside-the-ark-of-the-covenant.html Table of Showbread https://www.gotquestions.org/bread-of-the-presence.html Lampstand https://www.gotquestions.org/lampstand-Bible.html https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-the-menorah.html Altar of Incense & Holy Anointing Oil https://www.gotquestions.org/altar-of-incense.html https://www.gotquestions.org/horns-of-the-altar.html https://www.gotquestions.org/altar-fire.html https://www.gotquestions.org/anointing-oil.html
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Hugh Stephenson

Back to the presence of God Reprise of quotation from TC’s notes on Exodus- "The similarities of Exodus 25—31 and 35—40 may all be accounted for on the basis of their rootage in this all-encompassing theme: both sections, each in its own way, are preoccupied with Israel's need to experience the reality of Yahweh's Presence." This sentence has had me in reflection for days. Three words; need, experience, and reality. Is there any problem or struggle that I have that would NOT be solved by the reality of my need for God’s presence? NO. The problems/struggles would likely still exist at least in some form and at some much lower level. But their severity and intensity would be greatly reduced. The struggles come front and center when I seek His presence in ways that are wrong. Reprising the super, super helpful Pillar podcast from Exodus 32- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pillar-podcast/id1167131282?i=1000430629034 (Hat tip to Nathan Wagnon from The Eden Project. Fabulous team with an eternal mission.) Join the team, https://www.theedenproject.com/join-the-movement/ A good friend calls Oswald Chambers his 12th man. I agree. His 2/7 devo hits this issue hard. https://utmost.org/spiritual-dejection/ Lots and lots of time in reflection and prayer on seeking the Presence of God. And his promise of it. is it the answer to everything? What is does the presence and love of God mean? Some additional links- https://www.gotquestions.org/search.php?zoom_sort=0&zoom_query=Unity https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-unity.html https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-unity.html https://www.gotquestions.org/search.php?zoom_sort=0&zoom_query=Love+of+god https://www.gotquestions.org/presence-of-God.html https://www.gotquestions.org/God-is-our-dwelling-place.html https://www.gotquestions.org/Christ-fullness-godhead-dwells-bodily.html https://www.gotquestions.org/shadow-of-the-Almighty.html https://www.gotquestions.org/take-refuge-under-His-wings.html
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Michael Sisson

Re: Ex 37:1 Ex 37:1 (NASB) Now Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood; >>>its length was two and a half cubits, and its width one and a half cubits, and its height one and a half cubits;<<< Leen Ritmeyer, the world’s foremost authority on the Temple Mount’s archaeological excavations, cites 1Kings 8:21 as evidence that King Solomon actually created a rectangular indentation for the Ark on the Foundation Stone in Holy of Holies of the First Temple (today located below the Dome of the Rock). In 1Kings 8:21, the Hebrew verb "sim" is translated "set" or “provided.” However, the Hebrew word could be translated "put" or "make." A bird’s eye view of the Foundation Stone (half of a stereoscopic image in the Matson Collection of the Library of Congress) reveals such an indentation IS visible and corresponds to the dimensions of the Ark give in Ex 37:1. If correct, this would be a particularly helpful point of reference from which the exact location and dimensions of the First and Second Temples could be calculated. The aforementioned photo can be viewed here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_Stone And https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_Stone#/media/File%3AThe_rock_of_the_Dome_of_the_Rock_Corrected.jpg
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Sue Bohlin

Great devo, Will, thanks! I found this quote on Bble.org: "God created the whole world in six days, but he used forty to instruct Moses about the tabernacle. Little over one chapter was needed to describe the structure of the world, but six were used for the tabernacle.” I've been learning (thanks to the Bible Project) how much the tabernacle, and later the temple, point to heaven; they were earthly representations of what we will find in heaven. Which means that when we get there, if we have studied these Old Testament passages, it will feel familiar! I love that! All the references to gold, pure gold items and hammered gold items, reminds me that my love of beautiful shiny things is okay--it points me to what pleases God in heaven. So I'm going to continue to enjoy my motto: "If it don't shine, it ain't mine!" 🤣🤣🤣
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Michael Scaman

Literally a ton of gold used to make the tabernacle, but there also were more common materials with an ordinary look. Common materials included woods for the ark and animal skins for the covering. Both the precious and common materials point to Christ. In Psalm 68 the ark goes up Mount Zion and taken in Ephesians 4:8 takes this as Jesus ascending taking us with Him. This suggests the ark points to Christ, both in the atonement but also the ascension and also Jesus nature. Jesus was human enough o die and divine enough to raise himself from the dead in John 2. (tear down this temple and in 3 days I will raise it). Christ both fully God and fully man, Many say it would be appropriate to portray Him with both precious and common materials. From a distance you see the animal skins over the tabernacle, and that might remind us that 'veiled in flesh the godhead He' as the hymn goes.
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Michael Scaman

The Jews build for Pharaoh. Now they build something for God, God providing the specs., materials and ability. Hebrews tells us it was made according to an image of heavenly realities in the law. The law also has provision for a king and who might that point? and who is the heavenly king? Clearly Jesus (no provision in the law of Moses for a heavenly queen or queen mother but there is provision for a handmaiden of the Lord in the Psalms "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his servants and I am your servant the son of your maidservant" Fits Jesus.
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Amy Lowther

1. No. Right now, my worrying and anxieties are good. 2. I try to be obedient to God in all areas of my life. 3. Yes. It helps me see the value of helping coworkers and helping friends in positive ways. 4. The artistic skill and creative skill used to build things in respect of God stand out to me.